Philadelphia Union players spent day off yesterday at Phillies spring training

The Philadelphia Union and Philadelphia Phillies both call Clearwater, Florida home in the preseason so it only makes sense that some of the boys in blue would pay the Phillies a visit on an off day from training Monday.

They weren’t the only Philadelphia pro athletes with that idea.

Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce — who the Sons of Ben and Union are trying to get out to Talen Energy Stadium for the home opener on March 3 — also stopped by the Phillies first full day of camp on Monday.

That was the big story on the local news Monday night, that a Super Bowl champion was in town and for good reason. Kelce basically owns this town right now. The Union visit barely registered in the coverage I saw, though Bob Brookover did mention them in a column on Philly.com.

Oh well. (Bleeding Green Nation has more on the Kelce visit by the way)

News coverage or not, from the photos and social media postings it looks like the Union players had a good time, especially South Jersey native John McCarthy, who posed for a photo on the dugout phone (isn’t it great dugouts still have land lines?) and looked like a natural in the batting cage.

It also looks like three other local players, homegrowns Auston Trusty, Matt Real and Mark McKenzie had a pretty good time getting to visit their hometown team and tour the facilities.

On the Phillies side of things, Velazquez, a 6-foot-3 starting pitcher from California, didn’t look all too bad juggling the ball in the locker room with Haris Medunjanin, Fafa Picault and Jake McGuire as seen in the video below.

The Phillies begin their Grapefruit League schedule with a game on the road against the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday after hosting the University of Tampa for a scrimmage on Thursday at Spectrum Field.

The Union continue the Suncoast Invitational Tournament on Wednesday against Montreal Impact at the Joe DiMaggio Sports Complex in Clearwater.